The Professional/Problem-Based Ethics (or "ProBE") Program has been in existence for over 20 years and receives referrals from licensing boards, hospitals, and professional schools in nearly every U.S. state and four Canadian provinces. (Even though the ProBE office is in Denver, I reside in Syracuse and am retired from Upstate's faculty. The founding director received his Ph.D. from Syracuse University).

Post-Standard readers may be interested to know that licensing boards (including NY's Office of Professional Medical Conduct), hospitals, and professional schools work diligently to keep unfit healthcare professionals out of practice and to remediate those who are remediable.

Often their investigations are prompted by patient complaints, but brave colleagues and co-workers also report concerns out of a duty to professional accountability. In addition, and with all due respect to Prof. Martin who is quoted in the article, the general patient population -- indeed society at large -- correctly and appropriately expects a higher standard of conduct among physicians and other healthcare professionals, precisely because it is health care.

The profession of medicine has a contract with society that provides the profession with the privilege of self-regulation in exchange for the public trust to hold themselves accountable for their actions.

Catherine V. Caldicott, MD, FACP
Syracuse

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